HTC One X+ review

We’ve been sitting on this review for a while now, but it’s better late than never and it’s definitely not a handset you want to miss out on! In 2012, we saw what was to be HTC’s most ambitious handset to date, the One X. Between the beautiful design and the powerful innards, the handset was easily one of AT&T’s best Android handsets around, and now the HTC One X+ has taken it’s place.

Featuring the NVIDIA Tegra 3+ quad-core processor, beefed up battery, front-facing camera, and more, the One X+ is a beast that will satisfy power users and those who opted not to get the original. But what about the competition outside of HTC’s portfolio? Is the One X+ the go-to Android handset in AT&T’s lineup for the holiday season? Read on to find out!

The Good

NVIDIA Tegra 3+ is blazing fast

Retains the sexy design of the original One X

The Bad

Overall, hardware upgrades may seem a bit minimal

To us, fewer color options isn't a good thing.

Hardware

When the original HTC One X was launched on AT&T, many were bummed that it didn't feature the NVIDIA Tegra 3 processor. The decision to go for the dual-core Snapdragon S4 was likely due to the all in one solution that supports LTE. Well, this time around, you will find a NVIDIA processor running the show, as well as a beefier battery, 64GB of internal storage, and front-facing camera with a wider viewing angle.

If we're talking international units, the differences between the two handsets aren't terribly different. You do have a faster CPU, thanks to the NVIDIA Tegra 3+, which is always a good thing. The quad-core beast also allows for Tegra Zone, which is a dedicated application portal that showcases games optimized for the CPU.

Although the Tegra 3+ is probably our favorite upgrade in the One X+, that doesn't mean we haven't forgotten one of the best features of the device - the display. The Super LCD 2 on the device is every bit as good as the original, providing beautiful clarity across the board. It's also a very bright display, in which you likely won't need to have it fully illuminated most of the time.

The lack of a microSD card slot on the One X+ may be a letdown to some, but with 64GB at your disposal, you likely won't need one for a while.

Design

The One X+ retains the beautiful design that we loved in the original One X, but this time around, it only comes in one color. While the carbon black look is very nice, it completely lacks the contrast we absolutely loved about the white HTC One X. The subtle effect that makes the screen look like it's spilling over to the side on the white One X is completely lost in the One X+, which is pretty unfortunate. Nonetheless, it's still hard to call the phone ugly, and it's still one of the sexiest devices we've ever seen. The pop might be gone, but the overall design remains pretty superb.

The subtle curved looks to the device still remains here, and the One X+ is every bit as gorgeous as it's predecessor.

Build Quality

Like the design, little has changed in terms of build quality in the One X+ compared to the One X. This is very much a good thing, as it remains one of the more solid handsets and provides a great in-hand feel. Known for some of the best hardware in all the land, HTC keeps to its usual standard of best in class hardware with the One X+. It's not every day that a company makes a phone that looks and feels identical to it's predecessor, and people are more than OK with it. Well done, HTC.

Web Browser, Multimedia And Camera

Camera

Always a strong suit in HTC devices, the One X+'s camera is quite nice. You'll easily be able to take some great photos with this shooter, and the software is simple and elegant.

The 8 megapixel camera on the HTC One X + provides an impressive experience across the board. As you'd expect in many smartphone cameras, the shooter does suffer in low-light, but the multi-leveled flash is there to take on that task, and does so well. Like the original, color saturation can be off a times, but usually for the better in many ways. HTC also provides a handful of filters and editing options for tweaking photos.

Call Quality And Battery Life

Using the international unit on T-Mobile, I was only able to achieve 2G speeds on the device, though call quality was just fine. Calls were clear, with no distortion on either end in testing.

We were more than happy to see a larger battery in the HTC One X+, but don't expect a dramatic jump in battery life. The beautiful display and powerful processor will still eat through a charged battery like any other phone, but the extra mAhs in the One X+ helps you squeeze a bit more out. Battery life is just fine for a phone of this caliber. It's a beast of a phone, and most devices of it's kind tend to struggle, but the One X+ fared nicely in stress tests.

The Final Take

The HTC One X plus is one hell of a phone, but it might not be for everyone. This isn't to say this is a bad phone in any way, as it has the guts to take on many of the big dogs and most certainly will. If you're thinking about upgrading to the One X+, you might want to look at the phone in your pocket right now before taking the plunge. If the original One X is in your pocket, it might not be worth the upgrade for you.

More internal storage, a bigger battery, and a faster CPU are always good things, but they aren't groundbreaking. That said, if you're looking for a powerful device that has plenty of power under the hood, the One X+ is definitely worth a look. The Tegra 3+ processor is impressively fast, as you'd expect, and since the One X+ ships with Android Jelly Bean, the combination of the CPU and the butter smooth experience from Jelly Bean ensure a silky experience when interacting with the device.

To some, HTC Sense may be a thorn in the side of the device, but don't expect it to go anywhere. The enhancements made in Sense with Jelly Bean might be somewhat minimal, but are nice, nonetheless.

I really like the One X+ and while the hardware upgrades may just be a few bumps from that of the original, it's still one of the most powerful devices on the market and shouldn't be overlooked! Even with the introduction of the NVIDIA Tegra 4 at CES this year, it's hard to say that the HTC One X+ is behind the times, because it isn't.

I upgraded from the original EVO (7/2010) to the OX+ on black friday, and have not looked back. This is one great phone!

alexxx

Damit this phone is so sexy and mean and just so perfect, with allll thats out there today, I think I’m still gonna go from T3 OneX to OneX+, its just….so perfect in every way that matters! No other portable computer can match this equilibrium of features and design, HTC is a Michelangelo of smartphones!